Following an exciting 95-lap race, Myatt Snider brought his No. 51 Louisiana Hot Sauce Toyota Tundra home third in Saturday’s Fred’s 250 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. Snider, who was making the seventh start of his NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) career and fifth of 2017, earned his career-best finish and helped the No. 51 Tundra team advance to the Round of 6 of the Truck Series Owner’s Playoffs.
Stage One Recap:
- As the green flag waved, Snider started the race ninth in the inside lane of the track. By lap two the rookie was up to seventh, running single file while hugging the bottom of the track.
- While being patient and attentive, Snider protected his line and was up to fifth on lap seven after the truck in front of him pulled off after being black flagged. As the pack of trucks he was racing in started to break up because of lapped traffic, Snider maintained his position in the top five while being nice and smooth around the bottom of the track.
- As the 20-lap stage wound down, the caution flag flew because of a wreck on track. At the end of Stage 1, Snider was scored in the fifth position.
Stage Two Recap:
- Snider started Stage Two by making a trip to pit road for two right-side tires and fuel, while having no complaints about the handling of his No. 51 Louisiana Hot Sauce Toyota Tundra.
- The 22-year-old driver took the restart on lap 26 from sixth on the outside lane. After an aggressive restart, he made a move to the bottom of the track to steal away the third position with 10 laps to go in the stage.
- Snider continued to run single file on the bottom of the track, holding on to his third-place position as the caution flag waved to end Stage Two.
Stage Three Recap:
- Stage Three began as Snider brought his No. 51 Tundra down pit road for two left-side tires and fuel. When the race restarted on lap 46, he was lined up second next to KBM teammate Christopher Bell, who led the field to the green flag.
- As Snider accelerated on the outside lane, he got a push from behind and was battling side-by-side for the lead with Bell. On lap 47 he made the move to the bottom to pass for the lead, but the outside line got a run and started passing him from the top.
- When the caution flag flew after a wreck in Turn 4 on lap 53, the No. 51 team decided to make a pit stop to top Snider off with fuel. After the race returned to green, a few trucks in front of Snider decided to pit, allowing him to gain positions on the race track.
- On lap 62 the three-truck KBM fleet was drafting together in a line, with Snider running fifth. On lap 70 as the racing began to intensify, Snider followed his teammates as they moved from the bottom of the track to the middle lane in an effort to move towards the front of the field, but the opening closed up and he came into contact with another truck as part of a five-truck accident. The Louisiana Hot Sauce Tundra sustained moderate damage to the right front and would need attention from the over-the-wall crew.
- When the red flag was lifted, Snider made a total of three stops for the team to assess and fix the damage on his truck – as well as give him four fresh tires. Snider restarted in the 14th position on lap 76 and tried to find a comfortable position on the track in the midst of three-wide racing.
- With 10 to go he was 16th, but made a strong run on the outside lane and passed several trucks before moving back down to the inside lane. Two laps later he had catapulted all the way up to seventh.
- With only five laps left the caution flag flew once again, setting up a green-white-checkered finish. Snider restarted on the bottom in the seventh position and held his spot in the bottom lane as others drivers got aggressive trying to make a move for the win. The strategy paid off as he advanced four spots in the final two laps and ended the day with a career-best third-place finish.
KBM PR
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